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King County Metro riders will see more bus service, boosted Night Owl service starting Sept. 23

September 13, 2017

Summary

Riders will see more King County Metro bus service starting Sept. 23 on dozens of routes, including expanded Night Owl bus service on 13 routes, as well as more reliable service across the county. Improvements are funded by King County and Seattle’s voter-approved Proposition 1. Details are now online and new purple timetables will be available soon.

Story

King County Metro and the City of Seattle are adding hundreds of new bus trips and increasing reliability on more than 50 bus routes across the county beginning Sept. 23. More trips are planned to reduce crowding and help meet growing demand, and schedules will be updated to serve riders better.

In partnership with the City of Seattle, Metro also will expand Night Owl bus service on more than a dozen routes to meet growing demand from late-night and early-morning workers, as well as those enjoying nightlife and traveling off-hours to Sea-Tac Airport.

Together, the planned changes deliver the second round of improvements approved in King County’s 2017-2018 budget. Metro Transit’s two-year budget invests $30 million in better service and better schedules, including improving some transit schedules which provide transit operators with improved restroom access. The service also continues Community Mobility Contract service for the City of Seattle, purchased with funding from Proposition 1, passed by Seattle voters in 2014.

Riders can read details about changes on Metro’s website and begin pre-planning trips using Metro’s Trip Planner app by entering a travel date of Sept. 23 or later. Changes also are included in an orange Rider Alert brochure and new purple-colored timetables that will be distributed on buses and at customer service locations in coming days.

(Comprehensive descriptions are on Metro’s Service Change website. Some routes are listed twice below as they have both added trips and schedule changes.)

Night Owl: from midnight to 5 a.m., riders will see additional trips on most of these night service routes in Seattle, White Center, Burien, Tukwila and direct service to SeaTac Airport. In partnership with the City of Seattle, the network includes 18 routes: 3, 5, 7, 11, 36, 44, 48, 49, 65, 67, 70, 120, 124, 180 and the RapidRide A, C, D & E lines. Night-only routes 82, 83, and 84 will be discontinued and replaced with the additional trips described above.

Crowding: riders will see more trips to ease crowding in Seattle on routes 28, 40, and RapidRide C, D & E lines.

Route 50: Serving riders between Othello Station and Alki, a dozen more evening trips, creating consistent 30-minute service until midnight seven days a week. This additional service is funded by the City of Seattle.

Route 60: Serving riders in White Center, South Park, Georgetown, Beacon Hill, First Hill and Capitol Hill. By adding 24 trips, weekday buses will come every 15 minutes from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. instead of every 30 minutes. This service is funded by the City of Seattle and Metro.

Route 65: Serving riders in Lake City, Wedgwood, and the University District, this route will operate every 10 minutes weekdays from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. This service is funded by the City of Seattle.

Route 67: Serving riders in Northgate and the University District, this route will operate every 10 minutes weekdays from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. This service is funded by the City of Seattle.

Route 269: Nearly doubling weekday service by providing new midday service on weekdays every 30 minutes for riders in Redmond, Sammamish and Issaquah from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. This means weekday buses come at least every 30 minutes from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.